Disney & Universal Orlando Summer 2025 – Hits & Misses - The Great British Mickey Waffle

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Great British Mickey Waffle.
We have made it to October the 1st, and while our thoughts turn
to falling leaves, Halloween festivities, and everything
being covered in pumpkin spices,we're going to take a little
trip back in time to pick out our top highlights.
And low lights. Of the summer.
Hopefully it might warm us up a little bit.

(00:22):
Welcome to the show. I'm going in my head.
I'm driving down the highway. Gonna do this my way.
I can feel it in the air here. I.

(00:47):
Go is it just me? How can it possibly be October
already? I can be.
Seems like 2 minutes ago it was June and we were chatting about
all the exciting things that were going to be happening in
our upcoming summers. Anyway, with me today.
That that side tells its own story.

(01:08):
It really does. It really does and sums it up.
But I'm Jack, I'm glad you said June because I thought you were
going to say January because January went on for so long.
I don't know where the rest of the year went as Ben respond to
as October Halloween. Stop, stop, don't.
As you can tell with me today are John, Ben and Becca's here

(01:30):
too. Nice to have you all here.
It's October, which is ridiculous.
I can't, I can't agree with it and it's I'm saying no.
It's really weird, Claire, I must admit, because I know we're
we're actually in, we're actually in a position as a
family where it's the first October in 20 odd years that

(01:51):
none of the kids are at home. So.
Oh, wow. Yeah.
And it is such a bizarre feeling, does that.
Mean the microwave won't be going while we're doing a
Wednesday show anymore. Well, if it does it, it'll be
Allison's fault. We'll have the.
Little ping in the in the background have.
You got any NEST syndrome yet? Yeah, but it's really weird

(02:14):
because actually, I know, I knowwe've spoken a little bit about
about this before we went away and how exciting it was the fact
that we went away and we went without kids.
And actually it's only since we came back, the kids really
missed not being in Orlando. And, and I think that that's
really hit us quite hard throughout the whole of

(02:36):
September as we've come home andthen obviously said goodbye to
Joe to university. Josh is away gallivanting on his
inter railway trip of a lifetime.
But even he had sort of completesort of FOMO and, and and both
of them, it's hit both of them really hard in September just of

(02:57):
how much we actually enjoyed being away without them so, so
long. May that continue throughout the
empty nesting season until Josh comes back from inter railing
with his girlfriend. And I think they've got plans of
moving in for a bit because theydon't know what they're doing.
So yeah, I'll enjoy the ball, enjoy the silence.
While it's happening, you've gotempty nests, we've got

(03:18):
overflowing nests. Yes.
We're going to move back in home.
Yeah, so. It's bizarre, isn't it?
But bizarre. It's good, although I seem to
spend my life cooking at the moment, so it's just one of
those things that seem to. So I'm guessing moreover, the
Disney Blues as much as we can be or no, no, it's.

(03:39):
Look, another trick. Yeah.
Do you know I'm. I'm going to have to, because
actually, I know we, we say it'sOctober.
I, I can't remember coming back from a trip and actually feeling
absolutely bereft for the whole of September.
I've found I've found it really difficult adjusting and really
difficult being back and doing, you know, not just going to

(04:00):
work, but just just adapting to life because I enjoyed our time
away in August. And, and I've found I've found
it really tough. And it's probably quite a thing
to actually say to people that this this feeling is quite
normal. And it took me quite a while to
get to that. I've actually tended to go in
the gym to just get me steps in to get it back up to near Disney

(04:23):
amount of steps. My watchers moaned at me saying
like you haven't. Moved.
I found that's helped massively in just trying to adjust myself
because actually I found that really I've found September,
it's been really difficult one of.
The funniest, yeah, One of the funniest things about me is, is
booking something that's. Focused on an extra.

(04:45):
So weirdly enough, the other daywe booked the parking at the
airport and the hotel the night before.
I was like, good. I'm feeling excited a little bit
more about the holiday we've gotcoming up in January.
Yeah, but it's not. Isn't your trip?
I know it's universal. It doesn't know you're going
somewhere. That's exactly.
It unless the Moonlight Magic comes out for that week in which
we'll probably be doing a Moonlight magic.

(05:05):
That's true And we're going to have a car the.
World will be your oyster. Yeah, who knows, maybe some of
the content of today's show willhelp people who are thinking of
going in the near future. Well, that's the near future.
And because we're most definitely not ready to mention
Christmas yet. Definitely not.

(05:26):
It's funny. To start my Christmas show.
No, no, no. No, no, no thanks.
Enough, enough of that rubbish. We are going to think back to
our summers and we're going to have a chat.
And we haven't prepared this ahead of time because I've only
just written the script. The top and bottom 5 things that

(05:49):
we experienced and thought aboutour summer trips.
So I know that we have had a couple of general discussions
during our Wednesday live shows,but this should be a bit more in
depth and a bit more focused andallow us to talk about a couple
of specific things, which, well,that's my hope anyway.
So we'll we'll go with it and see where we get to.
All right. I'll just, I'll just put that on

(06:09):
me little note. Note to self focused right?
There we go. You know what it nothing we ever
do is focus. And I want to change.
And I'm also pretending that we think about this stuff ahead of
time. We occasionally do, but this is
not one of those times. So.
No. And I actually, I think this
makes it better because actually, I know that I know

(06:32):
that whatever comes out of our mouths in, in, in the next part
of the show is, is completely from the heart.
And I, and I think, I think between all of us, we had such
an amazing time away. And yeah, and we got a chance to
meet up and I think that was really such a special time.
But I think as we've come back and you start to sort of

(06:55):
decompress and you sort of triedto start to understand certain
parts of what you experienced and certain things that went on
whilst you're away, it's actually really nice to actually
have a chance to actually talk about it during this show.
And yeah, I'll probably by the time we get to November's show,
they'll probably be an apologiesand things that we missed out

(07:17):
list as well. So.
OK, so we're going to start withour top five and bottom 5
attractions from our trips and we're we're going to do 5
between us. Which?
Works because there's four of us, so I've thought that
through. So we're doing.
Top more than top five if we do top 4.

(07:38):
And then honourable mentions maybe?
Yeah, none. Of them get the extra one that
was always clear. OK, I'll squeeze.
Just choose. I'll just choose two, you know.
I don't have some of our top attractions are going to be the
same. I think.
They're all. Going to come from the same
park. Yeah.
Maybe, maybe not. But yeah, go on, Ben, you can go
first. Oh, it's good.

(07:59):
Do you know what? Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic
Rewind, Get it out of the way. Really.
I do. You know what?
It was incredible to go and rewrite it again, but with
family, seeing if there is a different set of eyes and
because there was a lot of discussion.
So obviously an hour or so before we went on on the ride.
Yeah. And just like, oh, what's this

(08:21):
going to be like? And I wasn't trying.
I wasn't trying to spoil anything.
So it's like saying it's a roller coaster and I was getting
loads of questions. How fast is it?
Does it go backwards? I felt like I needed like
Wikipedia to build up all the stats to tell them what it was,
but I didn't want to. I didn't want to spoil any
things. That was just like being tight
lipped, just going with it. And they loved it so much and we

(08:42):
and we all did. I think they actually did it
more times than we did that. They did, yeah.
They went back a few days after back to Epcot a couple more
times and we just, I just kept seeing the pictures appear up on
our memory maker. Did they work out where the
camera was? Because I still see pictures
from my family who go regularly and they still aren't looking in
the right place. There was 1 I did see where the

(09:04):
camera or where the the car didn't turn full of photos, so
where it didn't turn on the track at all, it just went
straight round. And so the pictures that have
come off from that one were quite, quite funny because you
just get half of people's faces.Go on then, Becca, what was your
top attraction? Oh, my top attraction was

(09:26):
probably which one to chase. Battle of the Ministry, yeah.
Good choice it was. A really good ride.
Brilliant. Brilliant new Harry Potter ride.
Definitely worth the wait. Definitely need to do it again.
The seamless transaction of the video and the animatronics and
set pieces is amazing from that trip on that ride.

(09:48):
Yeah. I think also for me the other
good thing about that attractionwas the queue line absolutely
built up to the story of what was going on.
So I don't know. What if there is a the single
rider line? John, you did, the single rider
didn't. You we did single rider, yeah.
Did you get to see all the same stuff?
Did it go along? Did the single rider line go
through all the different rooms that the normal crew went

(10:09):
through, do you know? Or did it cut round the back?
Because I know in Universal Studios cut.
Around the back and and you basically you get more of a an
underground metro. Yeah, OK.
Style feel to it you probably I probably missed probably loads
and loads that. That's why why, because things
like escape and Gringotts and stuff, basically it's a
corridor. You don't get any of the the

(10:31):
like the nice stuff. And I just wondered because
actually I think the queue line for battle at the Ministry is
it's, it's really good. And I think it absolutely, if
you pay attention to the, the cinematography approach that
they've used. So there's bits where it's in
the Ministry and then there's bits where it's, you know, when
you get to the Umbridge bit and she's got different colour walls
and all of that stuff actually, and then it changes back to

(10:52):
another colour for a different area.
If you it's a colour change because then you get the audio
as well. How the audio changes through
each section? So you have to be quite astute
and experience it and, and be aware of what's going on around
you. And if you, I think if you
spent, we obviously just walked through the queue, we didn't
actually get a chance to stop inany of the spaces other than
snapping a few photos because itwas early in the morning.

(11:12):
I would, I would almost, I hasteI slightly regret saying this
already. I'd quite like it to be in the
queue for a bit longer because I, I want to, it's a bit like
the the queue forever. So you know, you want to, you
want to have time to look at allthe stuff.
One day I'll regret saying that and I'll have been in the queue
for two hours and I'll. Be like I'm done but at the.
Moment because it's new, I'd quite like to spend a bit longer

(11:34):
in the queue seeing all the stuff.
It's good. Good attraction.
Good choice. John.
Yeah. What's your top attraction?
Oh, I'm going to. I'm going to go with tried and
tested because actually, as muchas I would, as much I would love
to see it toppled as the greatest attraction, I still
have this rewrite ability of Tower of Terror and irrespective

(11:58):
of how many times I've ever beenon Tower of Terror one, it
always still makes me laugh. 2 Istill take great delight in
riding it with either a family or certainly young children.
There was a a child on the this year who it was her first time
and it was very reminiscent of you'll be OK, don't worry, it's

(12:22):
not a problem. And then when the when the first
lift, when it was just like she was screaming so loud and it
was, it was just it was just an absolute delight in itself.
But it never fails it just as a you know, it doesn't matter how
long you have to queue up for it, even if you get a walk onto

(12:42):
it, it just it just hits the spot time and time again.
And I just feel that it needs tobe in our our top five purely
from that. For that reason, I could choose
an umpteen different parts of ofepic, but haven't been only one
day. I'm going for territory just for
rewrite ability and I just feel that.

(13:06):
And also I've not I might need to have this for one of our
Wednesday shows. I actually got AT shirt, which
I'm not a great stitch fan at all.
However, it just says out of order on the front of it and
some days I feel out of order. But I saw it last year and I
took a picture and then we neverwent back to the studios and

(13:27):
it's always one of them things nags away at you.
You think, oh, I really wish. And so we went back and usually
the merch kind of changes over ayear and things that and we went
back and I saw it. I just thought the very first
time we went there, I've got to have that.
It's the only item emerged that I came away last year thinking
that we should have bought. And so that was that was the

(13:49):
first purchase of the whole trip.
Excellent, excellent. So I'm going to go with a
classic attraction as well. I really thought about this for
a little while earlier and I wasthinking, do I go with something
from Epic? And I think better, you know,
Bachelor Ministry is excellent choice, but actually based on
the 3 experiences I had of this attraction while we were away,

(14:10):
it's still right up there for me.
And I'm going to go Kilimanjaro Safaris.
We had three outstanding safari experiences, 3 different
skippers, three different sets of information.
And I maintain that every singletime I ride this attraction, and
I've ridden it, you know, probably over 100 times, I

(14:33):
always learn something new. And my favorite fact from this
trip was that rhinos, no hippos,are really good at swimming and
they can actually run very fast.So the only chance of beating
them in a triathlon is the bike and that is what one of our

(14:55):
drivers said And I, it still makes me chuckled out.
It was really funny because a lot there was slightly
definitely silence on the bus and everyone.
Was like. I was like, can I?
Can I ask? That Claire as well, because
actually I, I actually I concur with what you're trying to say
though, because actually in the past we've kind of oh, we're

(15:15):
going to do Safari and then you come away and you think oh it's
all right, but I don't know whether it's just again, because
it was just two of us. I don't think it was it was it
was actually the rewrite abilityof that the safari this year and
the quality of some of the animal interactions.
I don't know whether or not they've, you know, they've been

(15:37):
maybe specially training the animals to be a little bit more
on point for photographs or whatever, but.
Could you just stand still for alittle bit longer?
Yeah, but you've got to see so much more.
It didn't feel as if the driverswere trying to sort of go round
at a rate of knots. And we did.
We did have a driver who clippedthe bridge and I've never

(15:58):
experienced this before. And she the very first bridge
and she just clipped the the real arch on the right hand
side. And obviously because it's out
on the left, it's quite an easy,you know, it's not, it's quite
an easy thing to do. But she had to radio it in, so
she stopped after the bridge radioed in.
And you know when you're on, you're on, you're on Safari, and

(16:21):
you're thinking, this must happen all the time.
Yeah, yeah. But they then had to send
somebody to go and inspect the bridge before, before the next
truck can go go across. So all that health and safety
bit came in and I, I, and by thetime we got to the end of
safari, we were feeling really sorry for the for the, you know,

(16:42):
because you probably know that she's going to get some sort of
mark against her name for actually causing so much grief
in the Sander. And she tried to keep going on
the commentary so much, but you could actually tell.
You could sense it was one of them.
In the herb back of her mind. She knows I'm going to get into

(17:02):
trouble for this. And it just got over the rest
of. It did a little bit, but just, I
just as we got off, I just, I just turned, I, I turned to
catch her eye in the mirror and just went.
I just, I put my hand on my heart and just, I just, I know
exactly how she felt. I just felt so, I felt so sorry.
For her blows my mind when I think about the cast members

(17:23):
that do that that attraction. So, but most attractions they
go, they learn how to how to manage the machines, you know,
and make things people guess, get through, you know, safely
process, yes, through the attraction and then you know,
everything. These these a lot of them are
college programme. And we actually had one of one
of one of our drivers was being assessed while we were on the
attraction. So one of the coordinators sat

(17:45):
in the back row watching her andtaking notes.
And that was that was a a traumatic safari because about
quarter of the way around it started to bucket down with
rain, like properly raining. So you're then contending with
the noise on the the roof of their thing that is not
waterproof. People.

(18:05):
Can I just say every corner she went round or the cut the butt,
you know, the truck swung, the water was sloshing off the roof
on to gifts and stuff. So she was trying to give all
these facts. And so she did brilliantly.
But these, these cast members, they have 4 weeks to learn to
drive those trucks #1 safely with all the kests in, drive
around the safari and learn all those safari facts that they

(18:28):
have to give out about all the different animals.
And they get assessed. And if they don't pass all of
those elements, then they, they get shipped off to a different
attraction. And you just think, you know,
while the other cast members areoutgoing down Wendy's or Biology
or whatever, they're at home revising about, you know, what's
a painted dog and where does it,you know, where does it look?
I just, I love the safari so much.
And we had just such exemplar experiences on that.

(18:51):
Yeah, we, we saw the lions roaring and doing things.
And, you know, we saw cheetahs running around.
And yeah, it was. I was surprised to see, yeah, I
saw cheetahs. We saw cheetahs on our one.
I was like, oh wow. This.
The rainy safari was great. We saw so many amazing close up
animal interactions. Maybe a little closer than we'd

(19:13):
like. Ostriches, but the yeah, I, I, I
just think it was great. I mean, there's could, I could
have picked a number of attractions, but for me that
particularly this summer, I think that's a it was really
good. That's really good.
Yeah. Go on.
Quick honourable mentions for anything else.
Jungle Cruise. I was just thinking the same.
We had a great Jungle Cruise. He was brilliant.

(19:35):
It was really funny. That was so good.
Yeah. In a Small World on Jungle
Cruise was brilliant. Yeah, he was so good.
They got what did he get Millie?I'm trying to remember what he
got Millie to do at one point. I can't remember.
Steer or something. Can't remember.
He got to hold the radio. Oh yeah.
Why are you on the radio again? Why are you whistling?

(19:56):
Yeah. Yeah.
So good. Yeah, we had a great jungle.
A Jungle cruise is always fun and I want to say Mario Kart.
I really enjoyed it. I know that for some people it
wasn't great, but I think it hasmassive rewrite ability.
I think the queue lines fun whenyou go through Bowser's Castle.
The books in the library are hysterical, do take time to read

(20:17):
them. I just think that that is an
attraction that I came off and Iimmediately wanted to go on
again. So I would happily do that 10
times in a row just to see all the set pieces, but also do the
interacts and action stuff and try and get us kind of a better
school than everyone. I'll add for loss of coaster on
that just because I was I was going to.

(20:38):
Say, because actually I had me first ride on the loss of
coaster this year and it didn't disappoint.
Same as had grids as well. First time.
First time on that and again, just just again, it's, it's that
balance act between acknowledging that there's new

(20:59):
rise in parts, but also protecting yourself.
So you actually you don't have any idea of what's going to
happen. And we've done, we've done a
really good job between us to try and not spoil that to the
extent that even some shows thatwe did a couple of years ago, a
few years ago when those rides first opened, I kind of blocked

(21:21):
them out my mind. And so when I certainly had
grids, when I experienced that for the first time, it was, it
was absolutely stunning. It's just like you mean just
taken by surprise by certain elements.
And I will not tell. I'm not going to give any
information away. I had the same experience.
On it was just brilliant. It really was.
It's the. First time I've got to do it and

(21:43):
I'd not seen. I deliberately never watched
Apov or any sort of ride throughit, so I didn't know what was
going to happen and it was amazing.
And it's still got the rewrite ability six years on.
It's great attraction. Yeah.
OK. Anything else you want to
mention quickly? Living with the land.
I Yeah. I I.

(22:03):
Can I just go back to Jungle Cruise as well?
Whilst you were mentioning that,I actually it was a really,
really funny experience because as we were, I was in, we were in
quite a long queue and the queueline was much longer than it was
advertised because there've beena code, code whatever and the,
the sick, sick bucket was being used, dispersed, etcetera.

(22:28):
So we were, we were up and down,up and down and kept as far away
as possible. So I was on, I was on Twitter
and I, I just became aware some big post on Twitter and they
were celebrating their one year as a skipper on the, on the, on
the, on the jungle Cruise. And then lo and behold, Gracie
was on the loading dock. And so in in only a style at

(22:53):
which my wife gets very, very frustrated, I went up and
introduced myself because actually I thought it'd be very
impolite. She's got she got a beer mat.
She got a follow on Twitter. She followed me straight back.
Amazing, which was good. We had we had the most lovely
conversation. And it was just again, just one

(23:14):
of those moments where you sharethe fact that you do a podcast
and she's like, oh, my word account, you do a podcast.
I said, yeah, hard to believe init really.
And but you imagine you incorporate like, you know, it's
like in 30 seconds, you downloadso much information of of each

(23:34):
other. I'd picked up stuff about her on
on Twitter. So I was able to say, Oh,
congratulations on being being here for a year.
Because actually, that's quite abig thing for a cast member,
isn't it? It really is something that you
know, it becomes your heart and soul and something especially
something like the Jungle Cruise.
It must become one of those things that the same joke time

(23:56):
after time after time was was really kind of rankle after
after a year. So we had a nice chat.
It was good, enjoyed that. But yeah, I could have umpteen
different special mentions because actually I just felt
there was so many. So many.
Attractions that we did first time with family and just seeing

(24:18):
Rise of Resistance through someone who's more of a Star
Wars fan than I am. It was was amazing.
It it was incredible and it it was a good opportunity to go
with. Them.
I've never seen him smile so much.
Oh, well, that's lovely, Yeah. Cool, right?
Yeah, those are our top. What are our bottom?
What did not live up to your expectations?

(24:39):
Thanks for your. Hand first, I'll start.
I'll start because I'm going to get I'm going to be right out
there from the off Rivers of America being shot spoiled Magic
Kingdom completely. And actually it's more than just
the ride. The the lack of the sound of of
the bow, the lack of the space, the lack of even even when we

(25:02):
first arrived, they'd put the basically blocked off the queue
line for Haunted Mansion. So you couldn't have a good nap
over the fence and see what was going on.
But unfortunately it made that queue line for Haunted Mansion
like like being in a sauna. So by the time it's second time
we went to Magic Kingdom, they'dactually put like 4 industrial

(25:26):
fans into the queue line to try and move the air, which which
really helped massively. But Magic Kingdom was such a, it
was, it was like a place withoutsoul when it didn't have it.
And I know that's probably, you know, I have to think of the
long term, but in its current state, I know we talk about

(25:48):
rewriteability in the in the topattractions, but actually Magic
Kingdom doesn't have that revisitability in its current
form. You know, there's so much that's
shot. Big Thunder still not open.
It's really weird when you're inthat area and you don't hear
screams from Big Thunder Mountain and you don't hear.
The noise. Track, yeah.

(26:08):
Yeah, yeah, Everything's missing.
And I, I don't know. I just, I know.
I know we try to be positive, but actually in, in a way, it
broke my heart when I saw the statement in its, in its current
state. And you know, I, I, I don't
know, maybe it's, maybe it's wrong to say that because things
have to change, but I just, I just feel that that for me was,

(26:30):
was such that it was the lowest,probably moment of the of the
whole day. And, and as a result, when we
came away, we actually looked athow few visits we actually made
to Magic Kingdom, which is unusual because normally, and,
and that maybe is because it's two adults that are going who
quite enjoy going to the Epcot for a beer.
But, but the other side to that is that normally Magic Kingdom

(26:54):
would build that experience thatyou would go and would be the
highlight of the whole day. And it wasn't this time.
It was a shame. Oh no, it's my shock.
Some people listening, but I'm going to put a test track on it.
Oh, you stole mine. You haven't mine.
Hey. Tell you what, a bit
controversial. Here we go do.

(27:14):
You know what? I was so hopeful.
Seeing concept art, seeing everything.
They spent the entire budget in the final room, and the
outside's the same. They they, to be honest, I don't
think they needed to spend it didn't be as close for as long
as it was to do that sort of refurb.
It was like it didn't have any thought in what it is.

(27:35):
And in the same part when you have Guardians of the Galaxy
just next door, they're, they'reclearly not the same imagineers
that worked on that one. And I don't, I suppose they
might have just left in its previous incarnation because it
was so much more fun to be able to customize and design your own
car. And then you've got a
competition element in there where now it's all taken out.

(27:57):
It felt just like it was a, it'sjust a showroom you had to be at
the beginning, which I thought was quite good the first time we
walked through and just went through and oh, this is
interesting from a, from sort ofmy point of view.
Car techie point. Yeah, but then once you've done
the ride and then you go in afterwards and it's like, oh,
the showroom is still here. There's new cars and all of

(28:19):
that. But it's like, I don't feel like
that's what it's supposed to be.And it doesn't feel like.
And Epcot's done some really incredible things over the past
few years from like, no, it's not from Moana.
The experience there and and what feels like it's more like
Epcot, this to me just didn't feel right, just didn't sit

(28:40):
right with me. I can't see how they're going to
leave it like that, but I think they have to Becca.
I'm going to say because you still mind, so I'm going to say
Fire Drill over at Epic Universe.
It's the shooty water ride in Isle of Berg.
Oh, that does not like, sound like my kind of attraction.

(29:05):
Too bad. It's not worth the 60 odd minute
wipe that we went in there. OK.
It's the queue is really dull. It's just switchbacks, you know,
if it was a 1015 minute Q1 mightgo on it if it's.
A popcorn like Popeye. Yeah, you do get wet.
You get wet and that part of it's spun.
It is probably is also one of those rides that is more fun

(29:28):
when you're with a big group. I can imagine if it's just us
too, it probably wouldn't be as spun.
I'd much rather go back on hiccups with riders than I would
go on fire drill. So I said fire drill.
OK, for me, I'm there's a there's a couple of things that
I didn't live up or disappoint, but I think the one that I felt

(29:48):
was probably most tired and I'm sad to say this, but it still
made me laugh. But I found Simpsons ride
Universal Studios just felt donethe humour I get it, Simpsons a
classic. They've been around a very long
time. Some of the humour I found
uncomfortable and I think that that, you know, that is

(30:11):
Simpsons, but the older Simpsonshumour maybe is a little on the
edge now based on it's. Just not changed.
It's not moved forward. It's not.
And actually, I found the the inride experience to just be a
little bit not in line with the rest of the attractions in, you
know, we also did things like the Bourne experience, which is

(30:32):
incredible and the first time we've done that.
And like you put that next to Simpsons and I get it.
It's an old attraction. It just took over.
You know, it was a reboot of what was there, but I'd rather
see it go back-to-back to the future.
I think that would be. I'd agree with that, Claire.
I would also add that we we had,especially with the anniversary,
yeah, we had a really good mid month show earlier in this year.

(30:54):
And I can't remember who the guest was, but we were talking
exactly about not just The Simpsons, but also that original
Universal part of how they couldrealign and become a retro park.
Right? Go back to the original Rider.
Put Jaws back. I think they've missing a trick.

(31:15):
Yeah. It's an anniversary of Back to
the Future this year. They could have.
They could have thought about it.
Yeah, we did ET because I alwaysdo ET just in case it's the last
time I'm going to ride it. It's never the last time.
I don't know when they're ever going to I.
Don't think they're never going to get rid of it, I don't think.
I don't hit me crazy. I don't.
Think they could? I much rather than get rid of
Fast and Furious because that just needs to burn, but yeah.

(31:38):
But if you put put The Simpsons up against ET, right and and the
the age of both a similarly longterm, the rewrite again, we'll
come back to this bit about rewrite ability, but actually ET
is so heartwarming and so and it's just like life enriching.

(31:59):
And when you come off, you're like, that was weird.
That was brilliant, yeah. I haven't done AET since 2013.
It hasn't. Changed back it's the same
they've. Reached on the floor.
I didn't like it then I'm. Probably not going to like it
now. I think the ride vehicles, the
ride vehicle is one of the most comfortable to sit on.
I think those bikes are brilliant, but we.

(32:21):
Should go back on it. It's in January.
We'll go back. On do it, yeah.
And. Felt like I was going to fall
off the ride vehicle when I was.If going back as well to The
Simpsons and I, and I think, I think we're on to something here
because actually there's a massive amount of land within
Universal that they can make useof.
That whole part of it has becomenobody goes there.

(32:44):
Tired. Yeah, nobody goes there.
It's it's like the Dino land of Universal to me.
Yeah, it is a bit. What really weird is it's not
that old. No.
They only completed that sectionin about 2015, no?
No, no, we, we, we were there in2014 and they were still

(33:05):
building parts of it. The the ride was there and.
Moe's Tavern and all of that. Yeah, all of that was still
under. Construction structure.
But The thing is now it's owned by Disney for Simpsons, so
there's going to be eventually alicensee, so maybe they're going
to pay Universal to keep it. Maybe they'll do a deal and say
you can have The Simpsons if we can have some Marvel.

(33:27):
I'll be honest with you, I thinkthere's there's bits of
Universal Studios in general that just feel.
Out of place. Yeah, just clunky and like the
Marvel, the Marvel area it's got.
I hate Spider Man. Still such a brilliant ride.
And we also did storm force the excels like the spinny thing and
we nearly threw up. It was brilliant.

(33:48):
I did it twice in a row and we were so I thought she was going
to go flying out of the car. We actually had to stop spinning
it because we were both about tovomit.
And that was that for me is a sign of a good ride.
So then we did it again. But the like some of the
attractions are great, but just the whole concrete and the the
whole facades and even 2 lagoon and stuff, it doesn't feel like

(34:11):
anyone's touched it in a long time.
And I know. That opened and also the lost
continent, which is. One the the lost.
Which has now been confirmed by Universe.
Has been shut. Then they it's going to be
demolished. And that bit where they they
used to have the motorbike thingon the right hand side as you
walk through and, you know, dad shot it because somebody died.

(34:32):
And yeah, all of that area, I just feel it's kind of a bit
like lost and forgotten and let's not talk about it.
It's like the big elephant in the room.
I feel like it's because, and especially it's highlighted now
because when you go to their newtheme park of Epic Universe, you
can see what that creative team can do.
So in a way, I'm so excited now to see what Universal do, and I

(34:55):
know that they while we're there, they're tearing down Red
Rocket. Which I saw were coming down.
We were there the day before andthen the day after.
It was like in come the cranes. Yeah, yeah, all, all, all the
rumours and a lot of the buildings is all leading to
Ghostbusters, so maybe they are going back to retro.
And again, yeah. That would make that would also
fit in with that New York thing.It kind of makes sense.

(35:17):
And I, I think as well, and I think this is something that I
won't ever take credit for because if Alison listens to, to
the podcast, it was her one gripe previously about
Universal. And we, we've not been to
Universal for a long time. And it was only the fact that I

(35:38):
wanted to go to Epic. We ended up with a, a four day
ticket and then we went into the, the other parks.
She dislikes both the other parks.
She's not a great roller coasterfan.
I love the coasters. So my idea is just going to even
going to Universal and just going on Hulk again and again
and again. That wouldn't bother me.

(35:59):
But for her, I think like you said, Claire, that sort of
concrete just sort of mismatch it.
It grates on the eyes because itdoesn't it kind of doesn't gel.
It feels like it's. All just or.
Chasington or yes, it's got thatfeel.
And like you just said, Ben, when you compare what's further
up the road or down down the road epic, you've then got a

(36:24):
theme park which the organization of which is I, I
think is second to none and the theming of which is second to
none. And I think you you mostly got,
I think they've got a real, realthing to do with this.
I I think they're on, they're onit.
They either need to shut down each section, each part, section

(36:44):
by section and redo them, or they need to shut down the whole
park for a year and tear it down.
Section by section. And I hope that they do.
I think now they've got Epic open and it's dragging people
across. Hopefully they will.
But I just The Simpsons attraction, particularly for me,

(37:04):
and I went on it when Millie Dandoesn't do it because it makes
me feel sick. But some of the humour I felt
was, and I'm not on the edge of being inappropriate in terms of
risque innuendo because that's, that doesn't bother me in terms
of it's not an appropriate joke to make any more.
It might be 20 years ago, but now it's, it's, you know, for,

(37:25):
for my child, I'm actually, that's not the kind of humour I
want her to experience. And so I just think perhaps it's
lost its shine slightly. Just my personal view.
No, no. OK, let's move on from
attractions. We're going to talk food.
So top five restaurants, 01 each.

(37:47):
Oh. OK, you can go first.
Oh, crowns, I'm trying to remember where I ate now.
What did we eat that was really good?
I'm not telling you because you're still mine.
Spoiler. Alert Ellen Compass, OH.
Really. Yeah, we had breakfast.
And breakfast done, we. Breakfasted at Island Compass.

(38:09):
Breakfasted. Yeah, not a word, Tiffany.
The server was absolutely amazing.
The food was really good. I'm singing Tiffany in my head
at the room. Yeah.
Any breakfast? One of those restaurants where
it's either really good or really bad.
It's there's no in between. Yeah.
This was a good day. This was a good time.
Also a thing what what helped iswith Island Compass Breakfast

(38:33):
that you have the option to go for an entree, but also there's
the option with the buffet. This time we just went for the
entrees, so we didn't have the buffet.
Yeah, and that. It was just enough food.
Yeah. Good tasting food.
I won't say that what really helped me with that was that we
got 40% DVC discount. Yeah, it was very cheap as well.

(38:54):
It was really. Well, yeah, that's good.
OK, Ben, what's yours? If you stole mine event and
compass, I'm going to say I'm going to go.
I'm not far off from there. Trattoria or Forno for breakfast
tell. People, it's really good.
I know we went a couple of yearsago over Christmas and I had my

(39:16):
heart set on what I was going tohave then, but the day before
they changed the menu, there's an update to the menu.
So I was like, oh, what I was going forward to.
So I wasn't as impressed then, but this time thrown away by it
had the omelette. It was, it was perfect.
It was incredible food, great service.
And yeah, started off a good dayto go to Hollywood Studios.

(39:37):
So it's sort of, yeah. We, we had breakfast there on
our last morning actually because we moved out of our
villa meant to be out by 10. So I booked a breakfast at
Trattoria for like 10:45. So moved out of the villa, drove
to Boardwalk. We needed to leave for the
airport by one anyway, so had breakfast and then enter it

(39:59):
Epcot for an hour and then went to the airport from there and
yeah, it was all it was. Great, John.
This is a tricky one. I'm not a great, I'm no longer a
bit of a foodie. And actually we actually found
different places off site than we would have would have done

(40:20):
previously. The one that stands out and this
is so apart from IHOP because actually I know it has its
doubters and things like that, but throughout which we actually
had some really good quick, quick in fed and go experiences
there a very reasonable price. And I would actually say Olive

(40:44):
Garden and, and again, we haven't been there for a few
years until last year and we went, we went in a couple of
times this time and then came, but we came out with more food
than we actually managed to eat,which is always a good thing
because actually you head back to your villa and you, you're
suddenly realizing that you've got basically, in fact, we made
I think 3 days worth of food input out of, out of one trip to

(41:08):
Olive Garden. So it, it, it kind of worked,
but I'm not the best one to actually ask on that for for
many a reason. And we didn't really eat a lot
on site either. And that again comes back to
cost and that and previously we would have have chosen somewhere
to go on site and actually have a nice meal.

(41:30):
But actually even with, even with the two of us, we couldn't
see the value in that when there's other options offsite
that are actually a lot more reasonable.
Yeah, For me, I think if someonewas to say which of the
restaurants that you went to while you're there, would you go
back to if we were going out fordinner tonight, where would you
go? I'm going to go Sebastian's

(41:52):
Bistro over at Caribbean Beach. Really.
Good and the more I think about it, the more I think that food
was excellent and and really good value.
Really good value. I mean, I know it's in a, in
it's in a resort and it's not always easy to get to, but you
can get the sky liner there fromfrom parks.
And yeah, I just think the amount of food that you get and

(42:13):
it is, you know, eat as much as you care to enjoy.
I've I just think it's a great meal and all the good stuff we
heard before we went, I would absolutely agree with.
And I think as a as someone who ate the plant based platter, I
think it was excellent. Crab cake was a bit weird but
the rest of the food was excellent and like all the sides

(42:36):
are vegetarian and they can be made.
They can make vegan friendly if you if you want and you know I
would. I would totally recommend it,
it's worth the effort. So for someone who doesn't eat
seafood. Yeah, so it's a meat based
platter. So there's actually, it's
weirdly, it isn't actually fishy.
So there is some, there is on the on the non vegetarian

(42:58):
platter, there's chicken, which is like a jerk chicken.
There are some ribs, there's some brisket, there's a couple
of pieces, there's some steak and then there is like one piece
of fish. So there is, depending on how
many people there are at the table, there was I think from
the the platter for three peoplethat they had had two pieces of
tilapia on it. And and they're only really
small fillets, so the majority, 80% of the platter is is meat

(43:22):
based. It's not fish.
So I have. To give this a go, I.
Have to besides were incredible.The salad was amazing, the bread
was Yeah, and and that service was excellent.
And the view, if you get a nice,you know, it's not a
particularly big restaurant. You can see the big windows and
you can watch fireworks, watch the sunset.
It's actually quite nice. So I think it's a bit of a

(43:44):
hidden gem. Don't all go booking it, yeah?
That's exactly it, Claire. But if if someone is listening
to this and you're planning somewhere else, somewhere
different to go to, that appearsto be a spot that a lot of
people are talking about and a lot of people have got nothing
but good reviews of and and again, I think more people that

(44:09):
we've met on on whole day and stuff.
Yeah, I don't. We don't go to these places, but
we do talk about food. Food places.
That seems to be the top of mostpeople's lists at the moment, I
think. About $39.00 a head plus tax for
you know, 5 full full eat as much as you can.
Food and drinks were good too. We had a couple of cocktails

(44:30):
over. Nice.
Any honourable mentions people want to throw out?
Coconut Cafe for breakfast Breakfast.
Yeah. It's a cheap canteen, both
breakfast and lunch. Yeah, breakfast.
Surprise, actually. Get on with Cetuli I think.
Yeah. No, it was.
Breakfast was really nice. We had the kids franchised.

(44:51):
Yeah, and the portions were big enough for us to have in the
morning. Yeah, we had kids meals a few
times actually. Yeah, we went to agree and
connections. And oh, the kids meal, the pizza
meal, the. Pizza was.
Like 769 and it's more food thanyou can eat I.
Was going to say we spent $15 between.
Between. And it was like pizzas and fries

(45:15):
and drink. It was like, really?
And yeah, yeah. I'm going to say just because
both places had really good service and good food.
Summer house, we sat at the bar,I ate some, we had a pizza, we
had the cheese pop, the turnoverthingies and the sprouts, which

(45:36):
are amazing. And also boathouse.
We had an incredible meal there.But that's that kind of, they're
kind of old hat now. Everyone getting Yeah.
Everyone knows it's. It's amazing, it's always
amazing and I don't think I've ever had a bad meal there.
So continues to be amazing, I think probably.
Yeah. What about the bottom 5

(45:57):
restaurants? Places are disappointed.
Should we do the team one? Yeah, I think I yeah, I don't
know Chippy, is it maybe? Well, does it, maybe is it maybe
is it maybe worth putting a a little bit of a spoiler in this?
It's actually we could get a whole mid month.
We do a whole shell one. Out of out of what we're about
to talk about. Yeah, yeah.

(46:19):
Go on. Chefs de France know how
disappointed we were. I wish we'd stayed at the Rose
and Crown. Do you know it was so we, like,
we all agreed we would go there and there was very.
Yeah, we were all really hopeful.
We were excited. We'd all met up and there was

(46:41):
the seven of us and Jason came with us as well.
We'd been to the Rose and Crown and met up with Matt and Crystal
and were Crystal's parents who were there and and kids.
So we've had such a lovely time in the pub.
And then we were let's go to right, let's go to Chester,
France. We got there and seated straight
away, not a problem. And our lovely French server,

(47:02):
Stan, he was absolutely in character at the beginning as
the same. In a moment in coming.
Yeah, surly French waiter who itreally wasn't up for any chit
chat. So he gave his recommendations
for the menu and people chose what they wanted and a few of us

(47:26):
went for the prefix menu, I think it was $69, wasn't it?
And then a few people chose justto have a main course and the
starters came. Mostly yes.
So. Except Ben's.
Yes, Ben starter did not arrive.Mine turned up with the everyone
else. Well, what was interesting was

(47:47):
that when, as he was taking everyone's order, he wasn't
writing anything down. Write anything down.
So I was like, OK, he's going toneed.
Yeah, perfect. He was.
He knew what he was doing. He good memory.
But clearly, yeah, clearly I wasn't going to get a starter.
But when they realized that, oh,we've forgotten to do your
French onion soup and and then got a bigger portion of French

(48:09):
onion soup, the nasty. Portion of French yeah, it was
it's just and. Everyone had finished this.
Yes, and, and to be honest, the French onion soup was actually
it. Was the 1st.
Part of the meal was very. Actually quite superb the
French. Onion soup is outstanding.
It's really good. I would I if they just did that
in the quick service, that wouldbe perfect.

(48:29):
Yeah. They just have a stand with wine
and French onion soup. Yeah, that would be better than
anything else. And then Ben was still eating
his cauldron of French onion soup, and the entrees came out,
including Ben's entree. And they sort of put it down.
And I remember you looking goingand they're.

(48:51):
Like, oh, we're. Used to dating and you're like.
It's like, yeah. So they took it away?
Yeah, at your request. You said no, I don't want it
yet. They took it away and then you
finished your soup and then theybrought it back.
Yep. The same one.
Yeah. Cold. 15 minutes later, yeah.
Rubbery wasn't great. What was it?

(49:14):
And it was chicken cordon blood.Oh, OK.
Yeah, it yeah, it wasn't great peas or everything.
Everything was like the mash andthe peas are mixed together.
It was. It looked nice but definitely
wouldn't have it again, and especially not at that
temperature. I had to under a heat lamp.
Yeah, yeah. I don't think the chicken cordon
blood was that great anyway because Dan had it as well and

(49:37):
he only had about 1/4 of it. And he said it wasn't great, so
even if it was warmed. So then there was a saga of
milli steak. So milli had chosen the New York
strip cooked rare. And yes, we made very sure that
the rare, the first one came outand is decidedly grey, very much
medium. And so we said this is not

(49:59):
cooked properly. Oh, OK.
We wanted it rare. You want it rare?
Yes. Really.
Yeah, really rare. Properly.
Rare. Still mowing please.
OK, so they took it away and they bought another one 5-10
minutes later and this steak that they brought was rare, but
it was such an appalling cuts ofmeat that she actually couldn't

(50:19):
cut through it. It was just riddled with gristle
and fat and it. Was it was basically a gristle
string. It was awful.
With with a sliver of of meat onboth sides, it was.
You know sometimes you are goingto get the odd steak in the pack
that the British chef is cooking.
That is not the best quality, but at.

(50:40):
The. Price that you're paying.
Kind of smacked at the fact. How dare you send the first one
back, I tell you what. You can have this one that's
been. Out this, out this, and we'll
see, see what you say about this, yeah.
And bearing in mind the stake was like $58, I think.
Yeah, it wasn't cheap. It we weren't, you know, we
weren't in long haul. And this was a Disney restaurant

(51:01):
and you were paying for the pleasure of being there.
So actually I said to Stan, he said, how is it?
And I said, actually, she can't even cut through it.
At which point you went, I'm going to get my manager for you,
which was the best thing he could have done.
Actually, I was not happy about it.
And so the manager came over andI said, look, this is the second

(51:21):
stake. We can't even cut through it.
She's tried, I've tried, can't cut through it.
First one was cooked poorly. This one's not edible.
Manager took it away. And then he came back and said,
look, I'm just making sure the kitchen is doing you another
steak. They're going to take any fat
off it. It's going to be cooked.
How do you want it cooked? And I'm just like, rare as
senor, you know, properly Frenchrare it was.

(51:45):
It was like a faulty towers moment, just like.
The Waldorf salad is coming back.
That is exactly the way it's. Oh my goodness, it was such hard
work. The third steak did come out and
it was cooked fine and the steakwas, but by this point everyone
had finished eating. So Mills was sitting there
chomping away, but everyone had like even better in his cold

(52:06):
chicken cordon. But he's been, if you've been up
by my point. Yeah.
And so it was just, it was painful.
We sort of ate in shifts across the table.
The wine was all turned up at the right time.
Wrong time if we turned up at 15minutes.
The Les Dawson version of a meal, all the right, all the
right dishes, just not necessarily in the right order.

(52:27):
So yeah, it's just poor. Actually.
To be fair, they took your meal off the bill, didn't they, Ben?
They took, they also took Millie's steak off the bill,
which is the right thing to do. And you know, we still tipped
appropriately for the cost of the meal because it wasn't his
fault. He was, you know, Stan was doing
his best in his French way. He.

(52:52):
Was probably glad to see us go Ithink.
That was, I actually felt that as we were leaving, I I felt
like they couldn't wait for. Us to leave which?
Is again absolutely on point with the theming, but.
I've got a feeling the next timewe try and book it on the app I
wonder whether it was denied. No, no.
Space. There is no room at the end.

(53:13):
I don't think there's going to be a next time anytime.
So no, I just. It was.
I was disappointed because actually it's you've.
Even had great meals there. We have, and actually, I've got
no complaints about the food that we actually had.
Yeah, it was, it was absolutely,it was spot on.
It was exactly what we'd ordered.
It came at exactly the right time.
But when you're actually sharingit as a whole table and you

(53:36):
become aware that, you know, as a as a team, you know you can
we've always looked out for eachother and actually, as we were
sat there, you just thinking, hang on a minute, someone is
someone going to come in and just say they've been filming
this? Is that Brown going to come in?
Oh, I've been filming it. Does he to see how British you

(53:56):
would be and things? Like how polite you would be.
I was getting to the point of not being polite.
No, it wasn't. It was one of them.
Nicely just went beyond that. And it was, it was, it was a
shame because actually, you know, I still think that.
I'm sure that there is a good experience in there for some
people. Maybe a table of eight people
who all wanted different things was more than the restaurant
could manage that evening. Yeah, I don't know what it was.

(54:18):
It just didn't work it. Just didn't work for us.
It was just an. Offline wrote it down.
If you wrote it down, that mighthelp.
It was. If it'd be perfect, we'd have.
Nothing to talk about. That is true.
Yeah, exactly. Where else disappointed you this
this year? Anywhere.
Else you're 71. Yeah, I remember you went and

(54:39):
you were like, this is not great.
It was on a we. Didn't go well because you said
that you. Yeah.
And we were thinking we might beon the best.
Day be booked in special meal. Going to try go for dinner for a
change instead of lunch. That's the wrong move really
should have gone there for lunchand had the burger but it just
surfaced. Clothes mediocre.
Yeah, he wasn't interested. Food was.

(55:03):
Also mediocre. Any questions or we asked about
the menu and things he just was disinterested.
The onion rings couldn't even save it.
It just wasn't and went for the.Sites were planned.
Yeah, went for the Caesar salad on Robin's recommendation.
Thought it looked good. It wasn't.
It wasn't great and it was the the croutons when everything

(55:28):
about it was just off. Just felt like.
A bad day, yeah. Try lunch again next time, yeah?
Can I Chuck 1 into the mix? Because actually I've been a
long standing advocate of this place probably since the day we
started doing this podcast. And Miller's Ale House, which
exists in varying formats, It's either Miller's or it's Orlando

(55:49):
Ale House. Etcetera.
And, and previously we've alwayshad exceptional food,
exceptional service. And we actually went in twice on
this trip and on neither occasion did we choose to eat,
which, which is quite something when you're trying to cross the
192 to go because we've got an Uber and we're just like, I just

(56:15):
don't, I'm what they've, what they've done.
And, and actually we had a little bit of a heads up about
this about a year ago. Then the company had been bought
out and they're basically the another company were then
running it, but they kept the name.
There was a new menu. There's a new menu.
It's massively powered down fromwhat it used to be.

(56:35):
The food as it came out as we were sat there and was just
thinking, we'll go for a drink and we just just have a little
watch and, and the food didn't have that wow factor, which it
previously did. It was actually quite quiet in
there. And so it gave me that feeling
that hang on the low and locals are a really good sign usually
that in the past that's been queued out the door, you could

(56:56):
walk in and you get your choice of table no matter what.
It wasn't just about tourists. It was exceptionally quiet,
which always, which always sets me apart as well.
It doesn't matter if you're in the UK or the US, if the locals
aren't going there, there's definitely an issue.
So we kind of, we went out and we went somewhere else and we
thought, no, maybe maybe it's just us, maybe I've just, we

(57:19):
were just in one of those moods where so they didn't serve, they
weren't serving what we were fancying.
Let's give it another go. You said use it as an excuse to
go for a a pint before we went to go for someone to eat
somewhere else. However, we had the same
experience. You look at the menu and you're
just like, Nah, it just doesn't.Yeah, it doesn't have that it.

(57:39):
They've taken so much off and somany little favourites and
you're just thinking, no, everything seems to be deep
fried really quick. It seems to be more sort of more
down sort of the Wetherspoons ofchucking the microwave, wait for
it to ping, then it'll be back out or you put in the deep fat
fryer, it'd be done in 3 minutes.
Chuck it on the plate and it's done.

(58:01):
And they seem to be the the dishes that have have escaped
from the yeah. And that seems to be the way
that they set up. I'm really just disappointed.
But I actually, I did need to put this on record because
actually, I know for a long timewe've always been great
advocates and Millers. And actually, I would just go
probably go for a beer there now.
And even at that, there's other places that you can actually go

(58:25):
to for a beer. So, yeah, that'd be a shame.
But time will move on. Yeah, it does happen.
And, and I'm going to throw in some way that we've always been
an advocate for as well, that some way that if I am up at
universal end is somewhere that we will always go just because
the food is, is great. And I'm going to put

(58:46):
Margaritaville on this list. So we went there and admittedly,
it was our first night there in the in the country.
And so we may have been tired, but we landed early and it
wasn't a late night. So I don't, I don't think that
was it. And there is something about
city walk that doesn't float my boat.
So I'm going to just throw that out there as well.

(59:06):
This might be a personal proof, you know, view of city walk.
It's not my kind of place. It's about Disney Springs.
It's not even that I just, I just find it uncomfortable.
I don't particularly like the atmosphere there.
That's, that's my personal view.But we went to Margueriteville,
I'd booked a table, we went there.
The Sir the, the host when we welcomed was off with us because

(59:27):
I didn't have AUS cell phone. Just stand there and wait.
And we waited and like 6-7 tables got seated and I went
over and is there a problem? She went what?
What with what? I said we're waiting for a
table. Oh, are you said, yeah, you said
stand there because I don't haveAUS cell.
And she was like, oh, right. And then she was, she said
basically they sat straight away, but we could have stood
there for about an hour, I think, and she probably wouldn't

(59:48):
have done anything about it. And we went in and a bit like
your experience, John, the placewas empty, which is really
unusual. This was like 830 on a Friday
night. Thursday night.
And usually Margaritaville was pretty pumping and there's the
tables were all full and the band and the volcano and it's a
fun atmosphere. This was like dead, dead in the

(01:00:10):
water. There was the place was like
probably 40% full. The food was fine.
There was nothing wrong with it.It just didn't hit the mark.
It wasn't anything outstanding. It didn't go, we didn't go.
Oh, that was amazing meal. And I don't always want to go,
that was an amazing meal. But I do want to feel like I've
had value for money and I do want to enjoy myself.
And I don't think we really enjoyed it very much.

(01:00:32):
It was just transactional food, which when you're paying those
sort of prices, I don't want a transaction meal.
I want something that I'm going to go that was worth paying that
for. And it's a bit like Rainforest
Cafe and stuff like that. You know, it's, it's a similar
type of menu and I want to feel like I've had a decent
experience because the food is the food.

(01:00:52):
And, and so yeah, Margaritavillefor me really disappointed.
And I had a chat with Will, who's one of the barman from
Margaritaville. He also works in the lounge at
Orlando International Terminal C.
If anyone's in Terminal C lounge, the premium lounge and
Will is behind the bar, say hello and say we said we said
hello. And he said that at the moment

(01:01:14):
and for like the last two weeks of August, the 1st, 2 weeks in
September, Margaritaville is dead.
He said he has never seen it so quiet and so much so that he
gives his shifts away now in that period because it is not
worth him going into work because he doesn't.
He makes $20 in tips for the whole evening.
It is that quiet. And he said it's a real issue in

(01:01:37):
City Walk and Orlando restaurants, particularly in
that this year he they've noticed that through August and
the beginning of September. I can I pick up on that as well,
Claire, because I know Ben will probably come in and mention
about Longhorns in a moment. And we went to Longhorns twice.
The first one we had the same issue with the US cell phone

(01:02:01):
were we checked in and then we found ourselves sitting there
for a long time. Now again, this might help
people if you, if you go in on whole day from the UK, just be
aware of how this system works because actually Allison had
Allison had actually booked the table online given her mobile
number. But obviously by the time we got

(01:02:22):
to to the, we don't have the Wi-Fi.
So this, oh, we've sent you a text said, but actually we've
not received no, here's my phonenot received the text.
Oh, give us a minute. And you're just like, hang on,
who's doing her a favour here? Yeah.
And, and actually, you mean you start off on the wrong, you
start off on the wrong foot. And it didn't, it didn't get

(01:02:43):
much better that first time. So we, we did go back a second
time. And, and again, the second time
we went, it was a much better experience the first time.
The first time we asked for a bottle of wine.
Oh, sorry, we've run out of white wine.
And we're like, hang on. This is like, and, and it was a
Saturday night, but I'm like it's 9:00 on a Saturday night.
I've got more. Wine in the fridge in the villa

(01:03:04):
than you have in the restaurant,yeah.
That's just like, how does that happen?
Does your manager not do the jobproperly?
And so and then you decide, well, we'll just have a beer.
So say that saves us a lot of money actually, because actually
the beers in the long corner aremouths cheaper than the bottles
of wine. So they did themselves a
disservice there. And one thing to bear in mind

(01:03:26):
for a lot of people is if you want your steak in a a proper
sense, ask for it to be unseasoned.
Because otherwise on both occasions we went and the the
seasoning on the on the actual state was way in excess of what
was. Very peppery all.
Of the taste was pepper. And it was it was over the top.

(01:03:48):
And so if you're British and you've got you actually just
want a decent state, make sure you do ask for it unseasoned and
it will come out absolutely perfect.
If you don't make a point of saying it, it comes your all
long con seasoning and they, I can't remember the sentence that
the server uses. It's just just do you want it
just to come as just basically as as a Longhorn staker?

(01:04:11):
There's something like and it's kind of hidden and you're like,
you're kind of caught off guard because it's just put across to
you very quickly. And again, that might be
something that spoils people's experience at Longhorn.
And that's a good point. It's just maybe something to
bear in mind if you're coming from the UK.
Just again, make a fuss if you don't get seated and you see

(01:04:31):
everybody else around you. Because it doesn't say
something. Don't you see?
It felt like an owl. Wait.
It was an hour. When we checked in, they said
about 40 minutes, which was, it was Sunday at lunchtime.
I could expect and expect that. They also had about a party of
about 30 people making a huge noise throughout the restaurant.
So obviously they were busy. We could get that.

(01:04:52):
But it took them, yeah, about over an hour, I think to see.
I wouldn't have stayed. I'd be gone.
I was looking my very friend a be on going like how can I
escape this and it was think Claire, I message you on the
thing it's like. We've already ended up at JKO.
Yes, yeah, yeah, I'd have been elsewhere.
Can I just point out as well, I,I, I think this is really

(01:05:13):
important that people realise this because actually, you know,
we're talking, we're four peopletalking about, you know, Orlando
restaurants in the here and now from experience, very recent.
And we've always been very positive.
We've always been the type of podcast that will come back and
say, oh, we've been to here or we've been to that.
It's been really good. It's been not been very good.

(01:05:35):
I think that the experience overall this summer has been one
where it's been OK. But I think the experience from
even going back, if I go back 10years and you look at an awful
lot of places on an evening, irrespective of where they were
on site, off site, wherever, butparticularly off site, the

(01:05:58):
actual, the actual sort of covers that they've, they've got
and massively down them. And we really noticed this that
you you could just turn up and you would basically be seated
straight away. Whereas pre in previous years
you'd be wait, you know, you'd be looking at a long way.
I know you guys had that experience at long cons.
I have to admit with that weight, it wasn't just the

(01:06:19):
weight that was the frustration.It was when I was a family were
seated when we we ordered salad.So you get a side salad with the
steak and obviously didn't come with the steak come before.
But they wouldn't give us cutlery.
And it was like we were having to ask every single steps and we
had no cutlery and there was just issues every step of the
way when they did one of the orders wrong.

(01:06:41):
It was the eye roll that she gave when we asked her to take
it back and make it right that annoyed me.
And that wasn't our main. Server that was someone that was
someone just helping her out but.
It all plays part of your experience, doesn't it?
It's not. We we definitely know which one
it is and we're never going to get back.
In that one, yeah. Which is a shame because we've

(01:07:02):
been to that one before and it wasn't so a.
Problem. I think all of his shows that
restaurants go through phases, don't they?
And sometimes they're great, sometimes they're not.
And things that we've loved, we now aren't so in love with.
Somewhere I forgot to mention when we were talking about good
places, and I mentioned it on a Wednesday, was the Celebration
Brewing Company. And I would really encourage

(01:07:25):
people and I know we're about totalk about something else and
and to venture to somewhere new,which someone has recommended.
When you don't know what quite what you're going into, go with
it. Take a risk.
You know, we had the most incredible lunch there and it
was so good. It's such good value.
And I was just pulled the they pulled the menu up and they do
these cool potato. So it's at a place called Point

(01:07:48):
celebration Point, which is a new residential area.
There's a lovely Publix that is a very cool 50s theming and it's
a bit weird, but it's great. And there's a few things in that
area. And this is it's just like on a
the side of a strip and the beers are amazing.
The they do these fries, which are $13 and the portion is big

(01:08:11):
enough for about four people to share.
And it's hand cut herb crusty fries with beer cheese, bacon,
brown gravy, parsley and Creole dust.
Now it's kind of like poutine but without the cheese curds,
just with beer cheese on it. So it's like a mixture between a
pretzel topping and a poutine Tropic topping.

(01:08:31):
They were unbelievably good. And like more is she really get
that massive umami and you just like, I need to eat more of
these. They're really savoury and
delicious and that mixed with them like proper posh chips and
gravy. Yeah, really, that's all it was.
Just remember we need to add that to our list but.
They're agreeing that as well, actually.
They also do salads, which any of the salads can be made into

(01:08:54):
wraps and the wrap. We had one to share and and it
was far more than we could possibly eat.
We had sort of had two sides. We had this the the chips, we
had this star, another starter, Millie had something and then we
had a rat between US and there was so much food.
We took some with us. Great value, friendly team.

(01:09:15):
I will go back without a question.
Definitely on the list. If you like a beer, there's lots
of different options, a different, you know, intensities
of tastiness. No, it sounds good that Claire
like the. Sound of that.
OK, we're going to move on to our last topic because time is
pressing on. So top experiences on or off

(01:09:39):
site? We need to be quick then.
Spending time with everyone in the fiddler.
Oh that's nice. And having my first Chinese.
Having your first movies. Oh, do you know something?
I I yeah, go back to our previous.
Topic still giga mean about that.
Yeah, Previous topic, the 126 Chinese on the 192 as a food

(01:10:05):
place with last year we we foundthat last year we use it a
couple of times. I'm not going to own up to how
many times we use it this year, but sufficient.
I think that's exactly it. But it was superb.
And yeah, it's not the type of place that you actually would
consider, but it it really as asChinese food out there goes.

(01:10:30):
It was it was absolutely superb.Yeah.
But yeah, first Chinese it. Was just lovely.
It was on the same day that we had the issues at Longhorn and
it was just it was needed. Have you got?
To see the villa. I know you're thinking about
thinking. A villa at some point it's.
Yeah, I can. I totally understand why you and

(01:10:52):
John. Book.
Villas, and it makes so much sense.
So much space and. And when we run out of DVC
points in 2027, we go, oh, we need an extra week somewhere.
It's like, yeah. There's also flexibility, Ben,
and I think that's yeah, yeah. It's a location thing and
especially when joining now the a few years ago when he started

(01:11:13):
driving in Florida. So it's one of those things that
means just it's so easy. It's the reason why we
originally, we booked January's trip just to what, be on an Uber
and just sort of just go to the park to just went once
Universal. Yeah, actually it's universal,
but the plan now is with having the car.

(01:11:33):
The just exploration, so much experience of villas and things
like that. But rather than sharing it now,
I think let's put it on the listfor upcoming planning shows as
well. Because I think for a lot of
people, you know, and don't, don't say it's the wrong way.
But if you've actually been in that bubble and happy in the
bubble for so long, it's very difficult to imagine how it is

(01:11:57):
when you are booking elsewhere and things like that.
And I think we can explore this as a even just a series of shows
to help you guys decide what you're doing in 2027 as well.
So. Yeah, hold those thoughts, I
think. It'd be good to investigation.
I think it'd be really useful, you know, really well.
John. We, I'll tell you what, yeah,

(01:12:19):
again, villa we stayed in was superb.
I can't that really for us was ahighlight.
We nearly booked an on site hotel.
We'd looked at Universal, we'd looked at Disney and then we
couldn't justify paying £300 a night.
And then we just thought well why?
Because actually we're, you know, we have the villa per

(01:12:40):
night stay in the villa was spoton and it worked for us.
But the best thing we did, and this is something that again, I
think comes from our cultural ambassador to the Great British,
Mickey Waffle, who had taken Josh and Mog up to Winter Garden

(01:13:01):
last year. But we decided it was, it was
chucking it down the rain and the, and the forecast for I
think it was our finals Saturday.
It was before we came home and we thought, I'm not going to the
park early on because the forecast was hideous.
And I just thought I'm just going to get wet for you.
So we got in the car and we wentto Winter Garden.

(01:13:22):
The first thing we we did was actually planned a route.
And it was actually that was thebest thing because basically it
went in a circular route. So we went on the toll road on
the way up there because it's the quickest.
But on the way back we came backdown on the non toll road, which
I'll talk about at the moment. We went to a place called
recycling the the magic. Now that would be recommended to

(01:13:45):
me by listening to the show Izzyhere, I'm teaching to drive
because her family had been beento its previous incarnation that
was in Lakeland. Now they've moved to winter
Garden. They're on it's at West Colonial
Drive in, in Lakeland. It it doesn't look like a shop.
So as you as you drive past, you're like, I'm going to mate.
This is like somebody's it's kind of like it looks like a

(01:14:07):
house and you walk in and it's like a treasure trove of Disney
memorabilia from every era that you could ever wish.
Now it's not some of it's not cheap.
I'll put it right that out thereright now.
Some of it is, and unfortunatelysome of the stuff that I've
collected over the years, Vinylmations in particular, seem

(01:14:29):
to be very cheap and don't have a great deal of resale ability.
And but some of the stuff in there was just it was it was
like walking into like a museum where you have the ability to
buy things and and the soundtrack while you were in the
shop was like, yeah, at one point that the wishes soundtrack

(01:14:51):
on and you just thinking, hang on, this is this is like this is
like top of the subliminal shopper trying to make you stay
in the shop and spend money. There was Thunder and lightning
outside. So there was no point in going
anywhere else. And so we stayed.
It was just like, it was just anamazing little, a treasure

(01:15:11):
trove, but one I think that willstand out in our minds as as
just such an amazing place. And then we went to Winter
Garden and we just again, just the most amazing experience.
It was because it was the Saturday, it was the farmers
market. They were packing up when we
arrived because we spent far toolong in the in the Disney shop.

(01:15:35):
But just a beautiful place we went into.
There's a Railway Museum in there which we which had a
little Disney sort of sign outside and trying to basically
as a lure to get you in and there wasn't any traces or any
Disney stuff and never we fell for it.
But it was free. The parking was free.

(01:15:57):
Little note to any British Council if you want to get
tourists to come and visit your town, free parking on the
Saturday. The place was buzzing.
Every coffee shop that we went, we we tried to go into was
bustling. It was full to the rafters.
It was just had a unique atmosphere and I can see now why

(01:16:19):
Zach took Josh and Mugg there just as a little.
You know, we're not you're not talking.
It's about 40 minute drive away from the 192.
The one thing that you will get is a little bit of a experience
of what a proper the American town is.
And you keep as you're driving, you need to keep your eyes open

(01:16:40):
because there is some absolutelybeautiful little bits of housing
in in different bits, but real old traditional American housing
in in the actual town of of Winter Garden.
As you depart and you are heading back to Orlando, you go
past some of the posh bits and you really do you need you when

(01:17:02):
you're driving and you you're thinking OK, right Oh, making
make a note, make a note of thatplace if you want to rent a
villa that that that place looksnice.
Oh that play and it and then youget back back down to 192 and
you look oh, maybe not I don't think we'll be staying there.
Look at the price that. Goes into 5 figures and you're

(01:17:24):
like. Just not for me.
But still, I don't often say that about many places.
And and as a day out it it was it really did fit the bill for
us because it then meant that wegot back.
We got back and then we could goout the patch and we'd we'd
probably escaped the worst, worst of the weather.

(01:17:44):
But just winter Garden. We have explored Florida quite
widely in the past. This is a this is actually a
really nice touchable distance away to actually say that you've
seen a little bit of proper Florida.
You don't have to go to the coast, you don't have to go as
far northeast as Saint Augustine.

(01:18:06):
You can actually go and just experience something completely
different and completely non theme park based as well.
I'm so annoyed we didn't go. We talked about it and didn't
and now I'm annoyed having heardfrom you.
But also, in case you haven't listened, the 15th of September
show where our Julie McKee Waffle Junior show where Josh

(01:18:27):
and Mork talk to aforementioned friend of the show, cultural
exchange ambassador and all rangnice guys at rang.
They talk about Winter Garden quite extensively as well.
And I'm just so annoyed that I didn't think of, you know, I
didn't commit to going. And I was, it was on the tip of
my tie. Yeah.
I was like, shall we go? Should we not?

(01:18:47):
Should we go? Should we not?
And I went, no, let's like do something.
And I'm annoyed with myself. So I have to I.
Think Claire. I think Claire.
That is, that is very often it'sa bit and we've we've done that
before. Yeah.
Well, you're sitting there and you're thinking, Nah, I can't be
can't be bothered. I can't be bothered.
It's too much hassle. Yeah, it's that's.
What happens? Yeah, you write a list of all

(01:19:08):
the stuff you might want to do, and it pops into your head while
you're out there. But then you just go like, no,
I'll just stick with what I normally.
Do right. And when I've got home, I've sat
there and gone. Oh my God, we were there for
nearly three weeks and there's so much, so many things we
didn't do. And that is top of the list of
the things we didn't do, and I'mannoyed.
But that's, that means that you'll do it the next time.
We've we've wanted to do it for a long, long time.

(01:19:29):
And actually in the past, I think we've driven through it,
but we haven't stopped and we haven't just haven't soaked it
up. And I really, that was one thing
I think as well for anyone who does plan on doing it, just
don't, don't fall for that trap of just going the outlets
because actually a trip to the outlets on Saturday in

(01:19:50):
particular is the most unpleasant, most unpleasant.
Experience. I've done that before me.
Yeah, this was different and actually I'm so pleased that we
did that rather than going to the outlets because that's our
go to sort of. Yeah, if we're not going to.
Trouble. We'll go, we'll go.
Shopping and now you'll go to winter Garden and you'll grab a
coffee in the shop and feel up to.

(01:20:10):
Yeah, and buy something from Recycling the Magic.
Oh, no, yeah, which might be. Yeah, which might be more
expensive. Go to the islands.
Yeah, You know, so for me, my and this is a hybrid experience
because that's how I roll. For me, my top experience of the
whole summer, apart from obviously hanging out with you

(01:20:32):
guys was experiencing, obviouslywas experiencing and really
connecting in a couple of placeswith some of the amazing
musicians that work at Walt Disney World.
And by that I'm talking about voices of liberty.
I'm talking about the Dapper Dan's.

(01:20:52):
I'm talking about Grayson, particularly at Casey's corner
and also Randy Morris, who was playing at the the hate to do
and and I was trying to explain to someone that I know musician
the other day and she was like, Oh, and what did you do?
Did you go in the attraction? I said I did, but actually this
is this isn't the thing that floats my boat when I'm there.

(01:21:15):
I love the attractions. It's great.
But actually the thing that keeps me going back and the
thing that really engages me is seeing these incredibly talented
cast members. I actually sent us some videos
that I'd taken at Voices of Liberty and she was like, wow,
you know, these, how many shows a day did it?

(01:21:35):
I said, I did like 5, maybe 15 minute sets.
And she's like, that's incredible.
So Can you imagine that's your job.
And she's like, oh, no. And we had, I had so many lovely
chats. I had a chat with Brandon.
I had a chat with Carl. So gracious and, and actually
they love having a chat with people who are there listening
to them afterwards. They want to know about you as
much as you want about them. And actually I had a great

(01:21:57):
conversation with Carl about whodoes all the arrangements for
them because actually I want to go and find them.
I want them to take them to my choir and, and use them.
And you gave me a the list, the name of the person who does all
their arranging. He was the person who instigated
Voices of Liberty and, and so and his website.
And now I can go in there and I can e-mail him and get copies of
some of the stuff that they sing.
And it's just like this level ofpersonal connection, like having

(01:22:21):
a chat with Grayson after he's played and like the first time.
And we, I arrived late that morning because that was the
late, that was the day we went to Magic Kingdom.
I left my phone in the car and I, I had to go all the way back
to the car to pick my back. And the others went, yeah,
Morgan and, and sorry, Millie and Dan went off to the park and
I met them there and I messaged them when I got to the park
where I, oh, we're listening to Grayson.

(01:22:41):
And also I came round the cornerhaving run through the emporium.
He had just locked the piano. And I was like, you've finished.
You didn't wait for me. It was just like, I'm so sorry,
but I'll be back in 20 minutes and I'll be back.
I'll be back as well. I like the dance.
They're always amazing. I love the dub of the Kadaba

(01:23:02):
dance. You know, these people are so
talented and are so humble with it as well.
And actually the videos that I shared with my friend, she was
like, how are people walking past when they're doing that?
How are people just walking pastthem?
And they're thinking and there'sthat you, I haven't even clocked

(01:23:22):
it because obviously I'm not, I'm stood there, I'm watching
them and videoing them. But there are people just
walking in the park and they're just, they're on the way to
Space Mountain. They're on the way to wherever
Tiana's, whatever it is. And this is just noise.
And for me, this, this is, this is the essential and the
attractions of the afterthought for me.
So that would be my number 1 I think.
Yeah, that just reminds me of the funny experience we had when

(01:23:45):
we saw Grayson for the first time in this trip.
It's like, yeah, enjoying. And it's like, oh, who's in the
background? Who's?
In the back of. The John and Alison are.
In the back of your shop. Yeah.
But the thing was, I never even spotted you.
And this and this sums it up, because you become so engaged in
in watching a musician at their absolute finest.

(01:24:08):
I had no idea that Ben was it was the other side and video in
it. It's so funny.
And I I went back out. You sent me a text.
We we were we were leaving MagicKingdom shortly after and said,
I think we just saw you and we were on the we were on the ferry
boat back to the car park and I'm like, hang on.
So I looked at the pictures I'd taken of Grayson, and there's

(01:24:32):
Ben in the background of my picture.
I'm just like, this is just absolutely ridiculous.
Yeah. And men have messaged me saying
we've just seen Grayson and Johnwas in the background and he
didn't even notice us. I I look forward to that in your
vlog, Ben. I must have made exactly.
Yeah. I think what we all need to do,
and I think anybody who listens to what we're talking about at

(01:24:52):
the moment, if you get it, make sure you go and watch these
people because it would be so easy for them to be in a way
like the trolley show. It's just cast to what?
Cast to one side and not to return.
The actual magic of live music is something that, you know, has
has actually inspired my kids massively.

(01:25:14):
You know, as I've got and I spoke about our joke on the uni,
but it's not in uni do music. And actually, I don't think if
he hadn't had that, that whole build up of being on holiday and
his, he has been bombarded with so many different live
experiences, he wouldn't have that ability to actually

(01:25:34):
understand it. You know, there's a there's a
lot of devotion, a lot of practice that goes into being
that good. Tony And actually it's
fascinating because I I mean, I sit there and I watch, I mean, I
watch Grayson play. He is insanely talented.
And when you hear him talk aboutlike people are saying, well,
how do you? He did a Phantom of the Opera

(01:25:57):
sort of set. It was about, I've recorded the
whole thing. It was like 6 minutes long.
And he just moved from one thingto the other.
And then someone said, oh, couldyou play this?
He's like, yeah, I'm not sure how it's going to go.
I'll mix in happy birthday with something else.
And he's literally making it up as he goes along.
He's improvising. And I turned around to Millie
and I was like, that's what happens when you practice
because people said to him, how did you get to this stuff?

(01:26:19):
He said, I just practice it. I have to practice.
I've practiced hours and hours and hours.
He says I don't. He said he couldn't.
He never as a child got on with like formal piano teaching.
He found it really painful to play classical music from books.
So as soon as he was able to play, he then started playing in
a different way and playing by ear and and learning how to to

(01:26:41):
do what he does now because he didn't like the formal training.
I mean, he's an incredibly accomplished performer and an
amazing musician, but it just shows you don't.
You don't have to follow the rules.
You do what works, but you do have to practice, which is what
I keep reminding you. Yeah.

(01:27:02):
Anything else that you want to mention in top experiences or
should we go to? I don't know whether we should
go to bottom. I wonder whether we just leave
it on a positive. I think we should put up top
experience. I'm going to say Halloween
party. Yeah.
Oh, yeah, of course, yes, candy.Still got candy.
A lot of candy. That'll last till Christmas.
First time dressing up properly,yes.

(01:27:25):
Costume. Costume.
About that, I forgot about our best costume awards.
Yeah, that was funny. They were giving advantages.
And outside the Crystal Palace. Yeah.
And we walked past and actually we got a lot of comments about
cool costumes. And sometimes they saw Millie
and they saw me and then they saw Dan, and then they said, oh,

(01:27:47):
Felix to say it to you. It was, it was really cool.
And there was a kid when we wentto Tony's Times Square, he was
also dressed as Felix, who came to my face.
It was so cute. He must have been like 8 or 9.
I. Guess yeah.
He had a gold hammer and Ben didnot.
Yeah. Yeah, it was.
It was really cool and it just, I think it makes a different, I

(01:28:10):
don't know you guys, it's the first time you dressed up.
Did it make a difference for you?
See you dressed up. It did.
What difference did it make? It felt cast interactions and
interactions with other guests and just shouting hi, lovely
costume, that sort of thing it. Felt more of a party atmosphere
than just a regular like off hours event.

(01:28:32):
Right. Yeah, I was.
That's how, that's how we felt last year then.
And I must, I must admit I, I actually couldn't envisage us
doing it again without dressing up.
And I know that sounds really stupid because I hate dressing
up and I've said that for a longtime, but.
Actually it makes it so much of a difference it.
Does but it changes your whole your whole persona changes

(01:28:54):
because actually 1 you actually you feel a bit a little bit of a
uncomfortable inside yourself, but actually because you are
making that effort, the cast members got the NTH degree to
make you feel so much more welcome.
And when you get other guests who are commenting and it's just
like it adds so much to your experience of the whole night

(01:29:18):
and actually having done the Halloween party and and gone
sort of half baked or we'll wearautumnal colours and we'll be
all right. Actually, it was nowhere near
the experience that we had we had when we we dressed up.
And if if anyone else ever planson doing it, just make the
effort. I know, I know it appears to be
a pain in the backside to do, but it is so worth it.

(01:29:41):
And and Claire, Claire, you've, you've had two years of actually
forcing I. Know the rest of us encouraging,
forcing. Yeah, facilitating.
Yeah, it's. So worthwhile.
I try and I try and explained it.
I tried to explain someone and for me the difference that it
made having having dressed up and and got costumes and they've

(01:30:02):
got gradually more elaborate as the years have gone on.
Not in costume. I felt like I was attending it.
When I'm in costume, I feel likeI'm part of it and you're
included in it. You are part of the atmosphere.
You are bringing the party with you and you are included in that
slightly secret. This is really cool.
We're all dressing up having funbecause even the customer cast

(01:30:24):
members aren't in their normal costumes.
They're in their Halloween costumes as well.
And there is something about being, you feel like you're in
it with the cast rather than someone who's just there
experiencing it. And I think that's the best way
to describe it, that you, you are able to then create some of
that magic for other guests, butalso for yourself.

(01:30:45):
And you, the more you get, the more you put in, the more you
get out. That's the.
General going to it in August than I have in September, late
September that we've done before.
Yeah, I mean, we were lucky. We had a lovely evening.
It wasn't too. Hot because I was.
Wearing a lot of layers, yes. And it was dry.

(01:31:05):
We had a dry because the partieseither side of us were complete
wash outs. So we were we were really lucky
with the weather. But I I just I love that
experience of that the knowing looks from the castle like yeah,
you've made the effort. Thank you.
Yeah. Smiles.
The buttons, the congratulations.
Great, great costumes. The server at Tony's didn't get

(01:31:27):
it. I'm not sure what the server at
Tony's did get. He was missed and miserable.
But maybe, you know, that's, that's just his Halloween
persona. I don't know, but I'm really
glad. Grumpy.
Maybe underneath, underneath hisuniform, he had his T-shirt.
I'm really glad that I've persuaded all of you that
dressing up is is the way forward.

(01:31:49):
I hate dressing up, as you can tell.
Yeah. But I just, I just think it's so
much, it's so much fun and you do have to put a bit of effort
in, but half the fun is making the costumes or it's.
Trying to work out what you're going to do and they're like,
OK, this. And especially when you're not
very crafty like I am. You don't have to spend a lot of
money I. Most of this your friend.

(01:32:10):
Right. Most of the stuff that we had
for our costumes was bought on vintage and then adapted and,
you know, crafted bit of glue, bit of petted sewing.
You know, it didn't, it didn't take a huge amount of effort and
it was totally worth it. So I'm really glad you enjoyed
it. And hopefully maybe by January I
might have eaten all the candy. I don't know.

(01:32:34):
We've got an awful lot left. We've given a lot away, but I've
given. Anyway, anyway, yeah.
I've got some sign I. Keep looking at it like the the
funny starbursts. Oh, that really nice.
Yeah, the watermelon starbursts.They're weird.
They're nice. The green.
Twixies. Was it the Lifesavers?
I've had one. No, it's OK.

(01:32:54):
It's almost. It's not a green one.
You're OK. Yes.
But yeah, we had fun and we've got a lot of candy and I can't
wait to go next year. I already started having
costumed conversations. Oh dear.
Oh I love a slippy slope. I know it goes on all year.
Anything else that you want to raise is a top experience.
I'm going to say having a catch up was at Brown and Jason and

(01:33:17):
Crystal and Matt was awesome. And I know, John, you, you spoke
to a few people who listened to the show.
Who listened to the show as? Well, and catch up with various
friends around and about as well, yeah.
Yeah, and, and, and I must say that I know it happened last
year and it's happened this year.
But you know, as, as we've gone on as a podcast, it becomes

(01:33:39):
really quite a, a thing when people recognize you and people
actually stop you in the park. And that was, that was never,
never something I ever thought would happen.
You and Tim Tracker? Yeah, but it's.
Just like it's one of them things and just like it was.
So it's been so lovely and actually getting to meet people

(01:34:00):
who either watch, watch on a Wednesday or they listen to the
podcast or watch the podcast. And it was just, it was so nice
to actually just be appreciativein person of actually just.
And again, how much information they have taken so much
information out of the shows that we've done.

(01:34:22):
And they're saying, yeah. And, and hopefully we never get
the blame for some of the rubbish that we talk, you know,
or. How much money they spend.
That's no. I was just like, yeah, I'm
thinking on my word. I can't.
And they're talking about parts of a show that we maybe recorded
two or three years ago. And I oh, did I really say that?
Yeah. That's what I found on his board

(01:34:43):
DVC because he recommended it. Exactly.
We don't. Recommend we just should give
our experiences. Yeah, but I think that's where
we started to hold this show andwe started off and talking about
the fact that, you know, we're well over time.
But everything that we talk about comes from the heart, and
it comes from our own experiences.
And it comes from the times thatwe've either spent in Walt

(01:35:06):
Disney World or or Universal or times that we've actually spent
planning and actually trying to arrange trips ourselves.
Yeah, what we, what we shared truly does come from the heart.
And I think that's the best thing.
We're not actually trying to tell you to go and.
We're not selling anything, no. No, you don't have to.
There's there's no right way or wrong way of doing Disney or

(01:35:29):
Universe doing your holidays. You got to do find out what that
aid thing is for you. Yeah, and that's, and that that
will always remain our core. And I just think, I think it's
such a nice thing that people actually take that on board for
their holidays and, and, and actually go and enjoy a nice
time. Because sometimes when you read

(01:35:50):
so many different people's Facebook, I'm trying to, I'm
trying to think of the right wayto describe this, but without.
Experiences. It's not just experiences, but
they they go on Facebook and they just offload, you know, the
fact that I went to the Halloween party, it rained, I
didn't your parade never went. It's Florida.
These things happen and you actually, there's nothing that

(01:36:12):
Disney when the riders don't operate in, in epic universe,
it's not Universal's fault. These things happen.
And you actually need to just take a little bit of step away
and actually understand that it's not about you.
It's about the bigger experienceand, and, and maybe people will
enjoy it a little bit more if they're not constantly seeking

(01:36:35):
something to complain about. I've got one quick thing to add
to topic experiences Tampa Airport.
Yeah. Yeah, best experience, Best
airport experience. Ever.
So I've converted you to I'm taking, I'm absolutely taking
full responsibility and credit for this costumes at Halloween
party at Tampa airport. Yeah.
Yeah, and Villa and villa. And the villa.

(01:36:56):
There you are. I can.
I'm the I'm. The Chinese I'm.
The Chinese. I mean, unfortunately, we're
probably not going to be going back into Tampa until 2027.
I'm already looking at Tampa next year.
We've got it. We've we've already put the
dinner did that today, same one,but we need to sort some flights

(01:37:19):
out and I think Tampa might be on the on the cards for next
year. Just kind of miss it actually.
I do really love Tampa. It's a great airport, smooth
sailing both online and on the way sounds.
Like a cruise ship. I've got, I've got so many
things so. It's so easy.
Yeah, I've got things this year that we didn't do that I've

(01:37:40):
absolutely already put on my list for next year.
Bucky's I am coming for you. But I think, you know, we can
talk about that in a future showactually.
And I think there's there's a number of things we've touched
on tonight that I think we should pick up.
I I think that, you know, we have had an amazing summer and I
know Robin and Simon aren't heretonight.
They've they literally landed back from Disneyland 24 hours

(01:38:03):
ago, so they're probably asleep.I I know that they'll want to
talk about their experience. They had some really cool things
happened while they were there and they've been in California
and experienced all things. So we'll pick up with them for
from their trip as well. But I think, you know, as the
summer goes, it feels like long ago, but it really was amazing

(01:38:23):
and epic, not just the park, butall the experiences we had.
And I think that there's a number of things we can pick up
both in planning for our next trips.
John, I'm including you in that because I know that you'll be
going again. I've got a Christmas trip coming
up. You've got a January trip.
I've got a May trip and a reallygood story about renting DVC

(01:38:43):
points. There's all sorts of things
we're going to talk about in thenext few months.
So I hope that if you're listening today and you've
enjoyed our concert, if your first time listening to us, we
don't normally go on quite as much as well, no.
That's we. Come on.
Yes, we do. Yeah, we do.
We're going to be focused. This is focused.
One hour 45 is focused. Start 3 hours, it's fine.

(01:39:05):
Right, it's the you have what isit Sammy?
Yeah, you've got a graph and Ally got 3 hours yeah yeah.
And I think that we're probably covered most of the things that
we want to highlight, but I'm sure we'll talk about the summer
at other points as well. But we did do a couple.
Of and also not just on the podcast, but also on the

(01:39:27):
Wednesday show, which is also available, also available as a
podcast as well. So if you do, you might see that
there's a live our live Wednesday show does go out on a
Friday as well. So on your podcast reel or
whatever, whatever you want to call it provides your.
Choices. On your feed.
But not that. They'll.
Appear on your feed, Yeah. So yeah, dip.

(01:39:50):
Out. If you've enjoyed it, share it
with your friends. Tell the people that you want
Who? If you're trying to persuade
someone to go to Orlando on holiday next year.
Share this show with them because if he.
Doesn't. Persuade them, tell me, give me
a first note, Carry. I'll carry the bags all.
Right. Let us know what you need us to
say and we'll, we'll, we'll helpyou out.
We're here for you. We've got your back with your

(01:40:11):
wing. But yeah, we are available on
all socials at GB Wiki Waffle. You can find us on all posts and
podcast providers, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all the
places and also our YouTube channel if you want to see us
while we are chatting and watch our expressions.
It's sometimes fun. How many eye rolls we get in the

(01:40:33):
show? Sometimes.
Very good. Tonight I'll have.
You have been very good. Actually, yeah, see what I'm
drinking because there's usuallya glass of wine involved
somewhere along the line. It was earlier, it's gone.
And that's what happens when you're an hour and 45 minutes
in. But certainly our live show and

(01:40:53):
our podcasts are all on our YouTube channel at Great British
Mickey Waffle and we would love to have you part of our
community. And we have Ben has just
relaunched it in a new graphic, The Wafflers Arms, our Facebook
community, our virtual pub. We share all sorts of bits and
pieces in there. We would love to see you there

(01:41:13):
and join us for a virtual drink.You have to buy your own because
we can't and we share all sorts of things.
I thought we weren't mentioning today how excited and proud we
are of friend of the show, honorary waffler.
Just all round amazing performerand incredible person.

(01:41:36):
Katie Wetzel, also known as Doryin Finding Nemo and Blue, Big
Blue and beyond. Formerly funny name of the
musical who has received her? Walt Disney Legacy Award in the
last week. That was just incredible.
Amazing. She's buzzing.
That's all I can say. Am I?

(01:41:58):
Yeah. I'll share a bit of video with
you after the after the show. Yeah.
Amazing. She sent me.
Yeah, she sent me over a week ago and I'm not being allowed to
share it. She's got a blue badge now, like
Grace. Yes, you know, it's.
Beautiful and and actually, I think that probably is a really
good point at which to actually bring up.
It's the cast members to make your trip.

(01:42:18):
And Claire, I turn my hat off toyou and Millie because actually
you went and gave cast members something, just little gifts
that were so beautifully and so well received.
And these guys, as we know from our Junior Waffle series, you
know, they were out there for what, 3 months?
But some of these guys are away from home for a year and

(01:42:39):
actually just a familiar, a familiar voice and a
conversation with someone who just understands and isn't just
give theirs to give them grief because you actually you're
providing them with an ice creamthat's a little bit runnier than
you would get in the UK. It's it's going to melt.
Right. You'd think people would
realise. That and I had some.

(01:43:00):
Great conversations with the UK Pavilion Council members this
year. And just like, so to you know, I
get it, you know you, I know howhard it is for you.
I've heard of, you know, personal experience as a parent
of someone whose child has been out here working.
We get at. It's hard work and we appreciate
it. So yeah.
And and some of the reactions wehad to work were quite profound,

(01:43:21):
I must admit, because actually, you know, just for the sake of
two free. Salads and a blackjack would
make their day. And just for the conversa, just
for the conversation, I don't. And I think that.
Yeah, yeah, if you take nothing else away from this, this
podcast, just, yeah, show your cast members a little bit of
love and. I think it goes back to the
Wednesday show we did about how to be a good guest.

(01:43:42):
You know your kind. Be kind.
That's all. Yeah, it cost you nothing.
Exactly. Anyway, it has been an absolute
pleasure to do this epic change tonight.
It has gone on a bit hopefully. It's still in October though,
which is possible. Only chance we will be back in

(01:44:04):
at the middle of the month with another show on the 15th of
October. Meanwhile, if you want to go
back and listen to the 15th of September, you can listen to the
GB Mickey Waffle Junior with MOGand Josh and Zac Brown.
If you haven't listened, do listen.
It's actually a brilliant show. I think it's their best 1 yet
and they're already talking about what's coming next.
So yeah, who knows? And we will see you live on a

(01:44:27):
Wednesday at 8:30 GMT. Or well, coming into that funny
season where the. Oh.
No, it's that's how we hear it. Best thing to do is if you head
to YouTube. And.
Click on like, subscribe and make sure you name your
notifications. You'll know when we go live,
yeah? Yeah, that's probably the best
way to do it. Clock's doing funny things with

(01:44:48):
Central Time and Pacific Time, You know, I'm not even going to
hazard against. So good luck with that.
We will see you live when we're live.
So, in the words of someone veryclever, we'll see you soon.
We'll see you real soon. Now my wheels in motion and my
windows open with the wind blowing in my head, I'm driving

(01:45:10):
down the highway. Gonna do this my way.
I can feel it in the air. Here I go.

All Episodes

Disney & Universal Orlando Summer 2025 – Hits & Misses

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Ruthie's Table 4

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Disney & Universal Orlando Summer 2025 – Hits & Misses